Abstract

The Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections is held annually in the USA. This meeting, organised by the Foundation on Retroviruses and the Centers for Disease Control, has a mission to provide a forum for basic scientists and clinicians to present, discuss, and critique their investigations into the biology and epidemiology of human retroviruses and the diseases they produce with the ultimate goal of translating laboratory and clinical research into progress against the AIDS epidemic. The 14th conference was held in Los Angeles from 25 to 28 February 2007. This conference is relatively small with steep competition to get abstracts accepted for posters and presentations, yet South Africa has a growing representation at this prestigious and excellent meeting. The Journal invited a selection of South African authors whose abstracts were accepted and published to describe the background and relevance of their work and contextualise their findings for us in South Africa.